How to Become a Tour Guide
How to Become a Tour Guide :Many people outside the tourism industry always ask about who the tour guide is. Well, we have got you answered. A tourist guide is a person of hospitality and the travel industry who leads, interprets, and provides information to visitors in the language of their choice to places of interest through geographical locations, museums, natural attractions, historical sites, and outdoor tours. However, to become a professional tour guide, there are several qualities one has to attain first to execute his or her duties, such as extensive knowledge of locations, geography, culture, traditions, and history of sites they are presenting.
Many people out there, especially students, would wish to become tour guides and, more often, ask questions about the proper channels and how they can get connected to the world of work. However, to become a tour guide, you need to know these questions: Who is a tour guide? What does the tour guide do? What tasks does he or she do in the field of adventure and tourism? And how do they get connected to their work?
First of all, as clearly illustrated above, a tour guide is a knowledgeable person who interprets and provides field information to visitors in their language of interest. The tour guide takes tourists to different adventure destinations such as national parks, cultural heritage sites, communities, natural attractions, and many others. By so doing, the tour guide provides authentic information about nature, culture, history, wildlife, and landmarks in their areas of interest based on their knowledge. They lead visitors to different places of interest, providing information about each distinctive element within a given destination.
In the first place, the tour guide is supposed to be patriotic with love and passion for tourism and love conservation starting from your locality and country, since tourism is a two-way traffic of “give me, I give you.” You don’t just run into tourism and then start there and then. This is because most people are driven by money, but you often ask yourself, “Why do you love tourism, and what is your intention in tourism?” Ideally, if your intention is driven by money, you may not love it, because the first thing is passion and love for nature and conservation.
Tourism involves travelling to different parts of the country, where some have varying climatical conditions, such as northern Uganda, which is always hot, leading to high temperatures, while southwestern Uganda, particularly Bwindi and Kabale, is very cold, especially during the rainy season.
Moving to such places, sometimes it’s hard for some people to come up with, let’s say, the hot temperatures in Kidepo, and you feel like you can’t wait to return to Kampala. The next day, you travel to Bwindi, which may be extremely cold, especially during the rainy season and vice versa, because the temperatures are getting so cold for you. In such a case, you feel like you can’t manage the situation, and things are getting tougher for you. But if you love nature, you enjoy everything. Also, avoid doing things that will turn against your work to the extent of losing credibility in the field of guiding.
What you need to become a tour guide
Make sure you have the love and passion for nature, destinations, and the tourism industry as a whole, and know what it calls for, as well as understanding your position as a tour guide.
Get to know the role of the tour guide, especially from the start-up to the end of the safari.
Get to know the destinations where tourists always go, because you cannot lead people to destinations that you don’t know.
Read books in general, such as books of wildlife, including birds, mammals, trees, and some plants, among others.
Get training from reputable training institutions, acquire skills and friends who can mentor you, get a license and certificate for guiding, and go for assessment, and finally, you can join the industry as you learn the rest from the senior guides.
Qualities of a Tour Guide
Knowledgeable
A competent guide should be knowledgeable with vast information to transform a trip or safari into an amazing one, providing insights and unique perspectives. This helps visitors to have a deeper understanding about the excursion in relation to the safari expectations and behind-the-scenes stories.
Plan in Advance
A good guide should be able to plan ahead and guide visitors with flexibility and creativity, and make top-notch decisions that aim at offering tourists the best experiences during their stay in a given destination. This means that the guide should be a good decision-maker with proper and prior planning about the activities to be conducted and accommodation, and meals at each and every destination.
Destination Ambassadors
A tour guide acts as the country’s ambassador since he or she is the one who executes, brands, and shares the field information and knowledge with passion and expertise with visitors in order to enhance their experiences.
Unlock the magical secrets.
Tour guides are very instrumental in unlocking the magical secrets of a given destination; this is attributed to the extent that they provide travelers with an insider’s view about the place in terms of its ecosystem, wildlife, people, culture, and historical facts.
More still, any skilled and competent guide will work tirelessly to see to it that travelers are in a position to uncover the country’s marvels and experience the natural beauty and authentic culture of a given location or destination.
